Just uttering the words "this only really happened because of the dramatic increase in organized crime prosecutions" is not really evidence that transaction rec

Just uttering the words "this only really happened because of the dramatic increase in organized crime prosecutions" is not really evidence that transaction records are not useful, neither is noting the date of money laundering laws. Money laundering laws necessarily came after the organized crime crackdown because we had to study these cases to proactively address them. You can't build an Al Capone-style cash empire in the US anymore. Unlike what you imply, money laundering is not about tacking on charges but rather detecting and tracing criminal organizations so it can be effectively prosecuted. Money laundering's critical role in organized crime is now widely understood [1]: - without money laundering, criminal finance is easy to discover - criminalizing it provides a legal basis for international cooperation that wouldn't otherwise exist to pursue global organizations There also aren't any Great Depressions and bank runs anymore, but we don't ask to remove those finance laws even though they historically didn't prevent the Great Depression. [1] https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/organized-crime/module-4/key-issues/money-laundering.html https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/organized-crime/module-4/key-is...